https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/2019/01…es/201901150145
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Mike Munchak on leaving Steelers: 'Family decision all the way'
ED BOUCHETTE
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
ebouchette@post-gazette.com
JAN 16, 2019
1:57 AM
Mike Munchak thought coaching the Steelers offensive line would be the place to finish out his life’s work until he retired.
And then came the chance to be with his family again in the same city, Denver, an opportunity he could not pass up.
“As my career shows, when I get somewhere, I stay there,’’ Munchak said during an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Tuesday afternoon. “When this opportunity came up to work in a city with my daughter, her husband, my granddaughter and my other daughter not far away in L.A., that’s what we wanted.
“I’m not 30 or 40 years old anymore. I’m 58 and different things become important as you age.”
After five years coaching the Steelers offensive line, Munchak took the same job this week with the Denver Broncos, only his third NFL coaching stop in 25 years.
There has been a narrative that he left for a lateral job because he did not like what was going on with the Steelers, who missed the playoffs for the only time since he joined them. Not one bit true, Munchak declared.
“It was a family decision all the way,” he said. “This was all about family from the beginning. If my daughter lived here, I wouldn’t have taken any head coaching interviews. I’d rather be a line coach here than a head coach anywhere else, other than family.”
After playing his entire Hall of Fame career career for the Houston/Tennessee franchise and then coaching their line followed by three years as head coach, Munchak took Mike Tomlin’s offer to coach the Steelers line for many reasons. They included being closer to his mother, father and sisters in his native Scranton. As a Penn State graduate, he also had friends all over Pennsylvania.
“Once we left Tennessee, it was all about the family thing, trying to get back to Pa., where I grew up on the other side of the state,” Munchak said. “That was the attraction, plus the tradition was awesome, the job was awesome.”
Now the “family thing” drew him to Denver. He turned down other chances to interview this year to become a head coach in the NFL again. The only one he accepted was Denver, again, because of family. He and Vic Fangio were the two finalists to become the Broncos’ head coach. John Elway chose Fangio, but then in concert with Fangio, offered Munchak the job coaching the line. Coincidentally, Fangio, two years older than Munchak, grew up in Dunmore near Scranton.
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“It was a very, very hard decision because I love it here, I love the Rooneys, the way they run the organization,’’ Munchak said. “Coach Tomlin has been awesome, I love working for him. I could see myself working for him until I retired. The offensive linemen are special. It was really a great thing.
“It wasn’t just the job [in Denver], it was more the location and to have a chance to continue to work, which I love doing, and have your family there too is just a huge draw.”
Munchak and his wife, Marci, spent plenty of time in the offseason in Denver, and he was in the room when daughter Alex gave birth to Emilia last March. It was a bittersweet year for him because his mother died last year in Scranton, where his dad still lives.
“It was great to be in Pa.; the last five years have been awesome in a lot of ways,’’ Munchak said. “Working with Ben [Roethlisberger] – you don’t get a chance to work with a Hall of Fame quarterback often. That was a blessing, a pleasure.”
He feels his successor as Steelers line coach, Shaun Sarrett, will do a good job and keep the continuity. Sarrett has been on the staff since 2012.
“Those guys really respect him, they’ll play for him,’’ Munchak said. “The best part with me leaving, they’re left in great hands.”
He experienced one large disappointment in his five seasons with the Steelers. They never won a Super Bowl. He is still looking for his first ring.
“I thought we’d win a championship by now, I was hoping to be part of that also,” he said. “I was in the playoffs first four years here. It was awesome, you take it for granted. We all know we should have been in it and we blew it.
“I know they’ll fix it.”
Ed Bouchette: ebouchette@post-gazette.com and Twitter @EdBouchette